Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I'm watching the Georgia State basketball team play Troy on Friday night and the Panthers are winning comfortably. And then all heck breaks loose.

Troy gets out of its zone defense. They are down by 17 and now they are desperate. It's the second half and they start playing like their hair is on fire chasing the man with the ball and behaving in a craze on defense.

Georgia State starts to wilt. The lead gets down to 10.

Into the game comes this freshman guard, Devonta White of Alpharetta. He's a rookie. It's his second college game.

He grabs the wheel and keeps the whole operation from going into a ditch. He scores on a three-point play. Then he scores on a drive to the basket.

Suddenly, the Panthers have their legs back under them.

When the game ended, White was not on the floor. He had played just 14 minutes. He had three assists. He also made two turnovers and shot the ball a couple of too many times, but at least he was aggressive with the basketball. White scored points and wasn't afraid.

He will get another chance to play.

Don't be afraid when your chance comes. Go for it. Stand up to pressure on the basketball court.

I remember playing intramurals in college. I was more shooter than ball handler. I could make shots. But when this one team came at me with two 6-3 guards trapping me, I was a turnover machine. I wilted and wanted to go hide under the bench. We got clobbered.

The next game it happened again, but I was smart enough to get rid of the ball before the trap overwhelmed me.